The Dutch conductor has died at 92. He led many of the world’s top orchestras and I think of his Shostakovich recordings as being standards, along with those of the great Russians.
I knew this news was coming eventually due to his health issues of recent years. I became aware of him as the conductor of the 1974 Mahler soundtrack which I first saw in the 1980s - and Haitink became a dependable conductor from thereon. His Mahler and, as mentioned above, his Shostakovich symphony cycles are outstanding (you can't do much better than his 1982 rendering of the Shostakovich 5th with Amsterdam) and a recording he did of Holst's "The Planets" circa the early 1970s has the best "Mars" I've ever heard.
My first Haitink Shostakovich was an LP of the 4th symphony. That was a recording I played many many times, and even though I’ve heard dozens of different versions since, it’s that one against which I measure the others.
My first Haitink Shostakovich was an LP of the 4th symphony. That was a recording I played many many times, and even though I’ve heard dozens of different versions since, it’s that one against which I measure the others.
He also conducted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra what I consider to be the definitive version of Shostakovich's ballet "The Age Of Gold". R.I.P. Bernard Haitink.
When I started buying box sets of classical works, his works on the Philips label was one of the first ... but I'd known his name for many years ... accompanying Vladimir Ashkenazy with his Rachmaninov 2nd/4th piano concerti ... and prior: his 1973 recording with Herman Krebbers of Brahms' Violin Concerto remains a firm favourite.
I understand he had a disagreement with the (Royal) Concertgebouw with which he worked for so many years and so his later/last recordings were with other orchestras.
A great body of work ... his was the first work by Toru Takemitsu in my collection (November Steps). Coincidentally, I chose his 1969 recording of Mahler's 9th to play yesterday ... running just short of 81 minutes it was music perfection.
